Tax Watch columnist finds that John Curzio, the youngest elected official in the Lower Hudson Valley, survived an attempt to oust him from the Carmel school board.

Taxpayer champion John Curzio has survived an attempt by his colleagues to remove him from office.

The outspoken Carmel school board trustee who opposed the district’s $86 million bond proposal last fall was targeted because he urged voters to reject the borrowing plan at school board meetings.

While Curzio was found to have committed official misconduct by advocating for the bond’s rejection at a videotaped public meeting, it was not deemed egregious enough for his ouster, according to findings in a hearing officer’s report adopted by the school board.

“I’m so happy I beat the charges and can claim victory,” Curzio said. “They failed in their efforts to remove me. It’s a victory for the First Amendment. It’s a victory for free speech.”

Carmel taxpayers paid $6,810 to mount the case against the region’s youngest elected official. Tax Watch had to fight to obtain documents detailing the legal costs. State law requires such documents be provided within five days, or within a time deemed reasonable. By June 20, which was 24 days after the documents were requested, Carmel had neither provided the documents nor said when they would be expected.

An appeal to district Assistant Superintendent Eric Stark on June 20 resulted in compliance that afternoon.

The 21-year-old Curzio, who was elected to the school board at age 18 and just graduated from Iona College, said he looks forward to continuing to speak out for the district’s taxpayers. He lives East Fishkill, which is part of the sprawling Carmel district that comprises the towns of Kent, and parts of Carmel, Putnam Valley, Patterson, Southeast and East Fishkill.

The school board sought Curzio’s ouster after the $86 million bond suffered an overwhelming defeated in early December, losing by almost 2-to-1.

Free speech or partisan action

The case against Curzio became a rallying point for Putnam politicians seeking to challenge the county’s political establishment. Among his supporters were Kent Town Councilman Paul Denbaum, a Republican challenging County Executive MaryEllen Odell in a September primary, and Maureen Fleming, the Kent town supervisor running for county executive on the Democratic line.

The Carmel school board sought to oust Curzio because he twice urged residents to vote down the bond during during school board meetings that were videotaped. The district charged that Curzio violated state regulations that prohibit school board members from using district resources to advance a “partisan goal,” such as defeating the bond.

When asked why it was a good thing to seek Curzio’s removal, Carmel school board President Greg Riley stated that the district believed that state law prohibits any school board member from encouraging his or her constituents to vote for or against a particular ballot question

“Voicing your personal opinion and imploring people to vote in a certain way are two distinct matters, and the latter is against school law in the state of New York for a sitting Board of Education member,” board president Greg Riley.

Riley’s statement, however, contradicts the hearing officer’s report, which was adopted by the school board on June 19.

The report, written by hearing officer Jeffrey Selchick, cited decisions by the state education commissioner which allowed school board members to voice opinions on partisan activities, such as bond votes. What Selchick found was that Curzio made his statements at a meeting that was videotaped by the district, which meant that Curzio had used district resources to promote his campaign against the bond.

Curzio’s attorney, Michael Sussman, who is running for New York state attorney general, said rules such as these are among the reasons he is running for the state post on the Green Party line. “It’s ludicrous that an elected official is not allowed to comment at a public meeting on an issue of the most significance,” he said. “It’s hard to imagine a more absurd situation. It’s terribly chilling.”

Board criticized

Curzio last fall appeared before the Kent Town Board to urge residents there to oppose the bond plan, which have removed from the tax rolls property in Kent where the school district wanted to erect a new bus depot. Kent town officials later backed Curzio after school officials turned on him.

“If the school board spent half the time and money on ideas to lower taxes and improve the school district as they did trying oust John, their constituents and students would have been better served,” Denbaum said. "The voters should remember that every time the school board claims there is no money to cut from the budget and taxes must go up ,that this school board spent thousands of dollars trying to destroy someone they disagreed with.”

Fleming advocated on Curzio’s behalf, encouraging the school board to open his removal hearing to the public. The school board made that decision on the day of the hearing.

“Dissent is a very democratic principle and boards need not walk in lock step,” Fleming said. “We need to hear different opinions and respect others’ First Amendment rights. It’s one of the fundamental principles upon which our country is built.”

Follow Tax Watch columnist David McKay Wilson on Facebook at on Twitter @davidmckay415.